10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Randy Orton

by Andrew Soucek

1. His First Title Came From Chris Benoit

Randy Orton SummerSlam 2004
WWE.com

In 2002, Brock Lesnar defeated The Rock at SummerSlam to become the youngest Heavyweight Champion in WWE history at 25-years-old. However, he left the company two years later after WrestleMania XX, and it seemed Vince wanted to get that record off the books as soon as possible. He only waited a few months to do so.

At SummerSlam 2004, Orton defeated Chris Benoit in the main event of the show to break Lesnar’s record, as he was only 24-years-old at the time. It was a bit of an odd move. The month before at Vengeance, Orton couldn’t defeat Edge for the Intercontinental Title, but soon found himself on top of the wrestling world. In the following years, the announcers would often point out that he was the youngest wrestler to hold the World Title. Well, at least they did until 2007, until Benoit murdered his family and killed himself.

Orton still holds the distinction of that honor all these years later, but it’s not often mentioned, because then it makes you wonder who he beat for that first title. Since the company has tried to distance themselves from Benoit at nearly every turn, it’s kind of surprising they haven’t given us a new youngest Heavyweight Champion since then.

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As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at." Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week. Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com